Guide To Registering A Trademark In Singapore

Article Written By: SimonRogove

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), being a statutory board under the Ministry of Law, is in charge of trademark registration in Singapore. Any applicant may either deal directly with the Registrar or hire a lawyer or any trademark agent as a go-between acting on his or her behalf.

Unlike in other countries, the Singapore trademarks regime does not require the filing of evidence of use before a trade mark registration is granted. However, the trade mark has to be capable of being represented graphically like any letter, word, name, signature, numeral, device, brand, heading, label, ticket, shape, colour, aspect of packaging or a combination of these.

Applicants are encouraged to conduct a research of existing trademarks to ensure that there is no prior similar or identical trade mark in the records of the Singapore Registry of Trade Marks. The search can be conducted at the IPOS office or online at eTradeMarks.

Upon verifying that no prior trademarks exist that may conflict with the one being applied for, the applicant may already submit the completed trademark registration application to the Singapore Registry of Trademarks and Patents. Options for doing so include by hand, by registered post, or by filing online through the eTrademarks system. Filing fees for registering trademarks under each class is S$340 for manual processing and S$310 for online processing.

The IPOS will then conduct an administrative review of the trademark application to ensure that it is complete, that it complies with the provisions of the Trade Marks Act, and that the necessary fees have been paid. Afterwards it will issue a trademark application number and date of filing to the applicant.

The applicant will be notified by the Registry if there is any ground for objection, including the corrections required and the specified period of time granted given him to overcome the objection. The application is considered withdrawn if the applicant fails to respond to the notice within the period granted.

A formal search for conflicting marks, geographical names and conformance to the international classification of goods and services will be conducted by the Registry Office. For pharmaceutical products, the Registry of Trade Marks will also check whether the marks consists of a protected International Non-Proprietary Name (INN), which are generic names for specific pharmaceutical substances furnished by the World Health Organization.

If your trade mark passes the conflict test, you must still clear a couple more obstacles before you are home free. Your sign will again by studied to judge whether or not it can be registered under Singapore Trade Mark Laws, which has categories whereby certain marks are disallowed. For instances, marks that lack any distinguishing characteristics may not be entertained. If the examiner finds any objections, you will be asked to make corrections within a certain period of time.

Once it is verified that the trademark complies with Singapore Trademark Laws, the applicant will be notified of the acceptance of the application for registration which will be published in the Trade Marks Journal for public information. This will also allow any interested party to oppose the registration within two months for various grounds including issues such as the application is similar to a pending mark.

Should there be any objections, you can try to have the issue resolved. If the resolution works in your favour and the two months have passed with no further problems, you are free to register your trade mark. You will be issued with a registration certificate and you can use the trade mark freely in corporate paraphernalia.

About the Author

Before doing business in Singapore, make sure you check out Singapore business guide and Singapore trade mark registration procedures.

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